Research Ethics Matthew Billington - PowerPoint Presentation

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Research Ethics

Matthew Billington

0151 794 8290

ethics@Liverpool.ac.uk

www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/research-support-office/research-ethics

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Research Ethics?

Research Ethics

is a world-wide set of principles governing the way any research involving interaction between the researcher and other humans or human tissue or data relating to humans, is designed, managed and conducted. In preparing a research project, the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of human participants must at all times be considered, respected and safeguarded.

Research

Ethics

 The application of moral rules and professional codes of conduct to the collection, analysis, reporting, and publication of information about research subjects, in particular active acceptance of subjects' right to privacy, confidentiality, and informed consent.  Slide3

Research Ethics at University of Liverpool

ALL research

involving human participants, animals, their tissues or data (

which, in addition to experimental and quantitative data, can include qualitative (descriptive) data, transcripts of interviews, etc.)

MUST

have ethical approval from a University of Liverpool-recognised research ethics committee.

Research

must not start prior to ethical approval being obtained

.

Retrospective approval cannot be given

.

Why

Respecting the rights and dignity of human participants

Legal frameworks and policies e.g. Data Protection Act, consent;

Practicalities of reducing risk

Protection

Funders

Creates better research

Research that results in benefits and has minimal risk of harm is research that has been carried out in an ethical manner. Slide4

Research Ethics at University of Liverpool

Research ethics approval is not required for:

Research which does not involve human participants, their data/tissues (literature analysis).

Secondary analysis of non-identifiable information.

Secondary analysis of information freely available in the public domain.Slide5
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Consent

Consent is the central act in research ethics, in accordance with the University’s key principles, researchers should ensure that every person from whom data is collected for the purpose of research, consents freely to the process on the basis of adequate information. Participants should also be made aware that they are free to withdraw or modify their consent at any point of the research taking place.

Research staff and participants must be informed fully about the purpose, methods and intended possible uses of the research, what their participation in the research entails and what risks, if any, are involved.

Step 1: The giving of information

Step 2: The discussion, clarification and review of the information

Step 3: Obtaining the person's written and/or verbal consentSlide7

Confidentiality

The confidentiality of information supplied by research participants and the anonymity of respondents must be respected.

When one person discloses personal information to another believing that it will be held in confidence, a duty of confidence and trust is created.

'The appropriate use and protection of patient data are also paramount. All those involved in research must be aware of their legal and ethical duties. Particular attention must be given to systems for ensuring confidentiality of personal information and to the security of those systems'.

Providing anonymity wherever possible

Safe storage of the data

Restricting access to the research teamSlide8

Risk

Research proposals should be considered in the context of the risks of the project, this can be defined as the potential physical or psychological harm or stress to the participant or the researcher.  When considering a research project the benefits needs to be maximised and the risks minimised. Risks and benefits should be explained to participant as part of the informed consent process.  

Psychological Harm

Physical Harm

Legal Harm

Social and Economic Harm

How to minimise risk

Researchers can minimise the risk of a study by implementing research that includes a well informed protocol, assemble a research team with sufficient expertise, incorporate adequate safeguards, ensure participants autonomy is maximised and ensure the benefits are maximised. A well documented risk assessment should establish that the risks of your research are minimised. Slide9

Example Application

Staff Project from the Institute

of Psychology, Health and

Society, which came to full committee review last year.

Flagged to central full committee- interview/sensitiveSlide10

Research Aims and Designs

The research involved investigating drinking behaviours following periods of absence from drinking (e.g. Dry January)

The researchers proposed to provide participants with a breathalyser and a smartphone app in order to record drinking behaviours. A questionnaire would then be administered to review the participant’s perspectives against the data from the app.Slide11

Informed Consent

The committee requested further information on how the consent process would look for the questionnaire

element

The committee recommended that a welcome page was added to the questionnaire which provided information on the study; and contained a consent box through which the participants could tick in order to access the rest of the questionnaireSlide12

Confidentiality

The

researchers originally

proposed to make photocopies of participant's ID’s/

passports for verification purposes as part of the breathalyser element of the study.

The

committee felt that this was unnecessarily collecting identifiable data which could later compromise confidentiality and anonymity. The

researchers modified

the research design to take a digital photograph of each participant. Slide13

Data Management

The

committee were concerned regarding

the proposal to send

breathalyser data to the USA from

participant’s

mobile phones.

The researchers made

modifications to the

proposals so

that all participants were loaned a mobile phone with the

app

downloaded, meaning no identifiable information was being transmitted. Slide14

Risk

The Committee recommended that as the study had the potential to

cause distress to

participants, a debrief sheet should be produced to provide further

guidance

and support resources to participants.

The committee also suggested that the researchers prepare a procedure for managing participant distress.

The researchers were asked to provide a lone worker risk assessment to cover the interviews which involved the researchers working alone with participants.